Defining The Voice Of Your Blog

In order to get the gist of what I’m about to write, let’s start off with what I believe to be true about blogging. I believe that every blog needs a voice, a personality if you will. Without it, a blog can never really be a blog, but just some website with constantly updated content.

Now this isn’t immediately obvious in niche based blogs that talk about specific things, people often make up for the lack of personality with hot updates. That’s fine if you’re usually ahead of the curve, but for late comers in niche blogging, there is no excuse for not setting the tone to your blog. After all, you need something that readers will come for aside from just the latest news they can already get.

However for personal blogs which no niche at all, not having a voice is an automatic death sentence to your blog.

During my series on Personal Blogging here on Lorelle on WordPress, I’ve often emphasized that one of the things that makes a personal blog worth reading time after time is in the way you write. While this is just as important in all blogs, the true source of content in personal blogs is the way you deliver the story of your life to the people. To do just that, it’s got to have personality. You have to set the tone which people, especially newcomers to your blog will immediately picture.

For example, are you an angry person? Do you swear a lot as you write? Do you wear you emotions on your sleeves? Are you posts full of melancholic introspection? Are you practical? Does everything you write go straight to the point? Are you easygoing? Is your humour as morbid as it is witty?

These are the things that people pick up subconsciously as they read through your posts. While your writing provides a medium for people to relate to you and your life, it is those little quirks in your personality that gives life to your words and helps people relate to you as not just another writer with a blog, but a human being with a life.

To be fair I’ve added a list of things you might want to read which helps emphasize the voice of your blog and give it a little personality.

Be yourself – The number one problem with personal blogs is that people try to be someone they are not. I have mentioned before that to improve your writing, it’s alright to emulate the bloggers you like. However, some people push it one step further. They try and talk like the blogger they like. In short they aren’t just emulating anymore, whatever voice they have on their blog is not a reflection of who they are, but a reflection of the blogger they are trying to copy. You know what they say about trying to copy something forcefully. It isn’t as good as the original and eventually, your voice becomes unnatural and disconnected. So be yourself. Learn from others while developing a style that’s inherently yours. Make your voice your own and people will come back over and over again to hear it.

Celebrate your strengths and your weaknesses – Being you on your blog means being both the best and worst of you. Being able to share that with the world proves that you’re only human with a personality and that makes you as real as it can get. It’s alright to admit that you’re not perfect, but it doesn’t mean you should make excuses for it either. Same goes for being the best part of you. Don’t apologise for it, but celebrate it with your words and your writing. People will love you for your honesty. People will love you for being real.

Have a creative “About Me” page – Less introspective than the first two tips but one of the most overlooked nevertheless. I have gone through a lot of blogs and it’s surprising to know that there are quite a number of them that don’t have “About Me” pages. Even if they do, a lot of personal blogs especially lack any form of personality your readers hope to connect with. If you can’t even introduce your readers to your blog, why would they stay to read the rest of your words? I personally place importance in “About Me“ pages. I think you should too.

Hopefully, these few tips should point you in the right direction to giving your personal blog the voice it needs to stand out above the rest. It’s a real shame to be who you are and have it completely wrecked by a blog that has no voice, no soul to it. Passion as it is comes from your ability to inject your own personality into the words you put down. When people read those words, they can feel that passion. They can feel the soul behind it. It’s things like that which people will come back for more. The very things you learn to deliver in your blog much less as a person.

Remember, your personality is as much who you are as opposed to what you are as a human being. Since we already know you’re human, it’s time to tell us who you are. It’s time to let your voice be heard by people. It’s time to let it echo throughout the net and beyond.

Personal Blogging Series

If you haven’t already, you can read the rest of the Personal Blogging series linked here:

Edrei blogs on Footsteps in the Mirror, a personal and commentary blog. He often writes about his personal exploits, life philosophies, as well as tips on blogging and WordPress. Edrei is also an active member of the 9rules community network. You can subscribe to him via RSS Feed.

I too think an About page is important and have written about this myself some time ago. I really don’t like it when there isn’t one, or when it’s just the Blogger profile type page. I’ve recently vamped mine up a bit.

Voice is one of those qualities that’s hard to define and talk about, but it’s hugely important in reader appeal. I think Seagull Fountain is one of those blogs with a distinct voice. I’ve noticed that establishing a distinct voice often requires a bit of emphasis and exaggeration. Dooce writes like this too — with emphasis and exaggeration. Especially if you’re being sarcastic, you have to push it.

[…] Defining The Voice Of Your Blog: In the last of his wonderful series on Personal Blogging, Edrei Zahari discusses how to develop and define the voice of your blog, the voice that speaks to the readers as if they are sitting right next to them on the bus. […]